The media’s continued attention on the battle between Microsoft’s Bing.com and Google has somewhat pushed Yahoo! out of the picture. Downfall in revenue has forced Yahoo!, former number one search site, to resort to pink slipping workers. However, news has improved for Yahoo! of late, as the search engine released a new home page on Tuesday.
The new page features links to several popular third-party sites including Facebook and eBay. Users can see headlines from such sites by simply moving the cursor over a toolbar titled “My Favorites” on the left side of the page. Yahoo! has also introduced a “trend-setter” box that highlights the popular searches of the day. Some experts feel the move is an attempt to attract Microsoft back into talks regarding a search advertising deal.
Negotiations have been intermittent for months, with each party hoping that teaming up could give Google considerable competition. According to reports, talks are closer than ever, with Microsoft executives meeting with Yahoo! in California. In the deal, Microsoft would reportedly pay for several billion dollars worth of Yahoo!’s search advertising business. Despite this recent news, the tide can turn quickly: Yahoo! CEO Carol Bartz once said that the search company would “be better off if we had never heard the word Microsoft.”
It is hard to deny that a deal would certainly bring more competition to Google. Users can only hope that such a battle will bring consistent improvement throughout the search realm.
